Information may be recorded in certain circumstances by manually writing on paper or other surfaces, using ink pens, pencils, chalk, or other writing instruments. Various combinations of the writing instruments and writing surfaces can be used to produce different degrees of permanence, appearance, quality and clarity.
The applications in which information is written onto paper or another surface are varied. For example, consumers scribble shopping lists; coaches write plays; office workers take notes in meetings and students take notes in class; factory workers record production information; civilians and military personnel write down information in charts and reports, etc.
The writing implements for committing information onto paper and other surfaces are varied. Lead pencils are sometimes used, and are suitable for some applications, but in other situations ink is used. Numerous inks are commercially available.
In addition to having many different conventional writing tools from which to select, many different papers and other surfaces are available from which to select. Papers of various colors, thickness, appearance, durability and size are sold. Paper is sold in single sheets, in punched forms suitable for inserting in notebooks, in glue-bound tablets, in books, or in spiral-bound notebooks. Whichever paper is selected, recording information on paper is not without risk or disadvantage. For example, under certain conditions, ink on paper becomes illegible, or at least unsightly, distorted, or irregular, such as when the paper comes into contact with food, beverages and various other liquids and solids. Also, paper is not resilient to deterioration even if used as intended. Individual sheets of paper may be difficult to control, keep track of, or contain. Handled paper may look worn, dog-eared, and unprofessional.
Methods have developed, in certain applications, for writing onto non-paper surfaces, such as chalkboards, whiteboards and certain plastic sheets. The appearance and quality of the image, difficulty of use, permanence/removability, size and inconvenience of use, for the conventional non-paper systems have tended to limit their use to a narrow range of applications.
In many applications, paper has remained the predominant writing surface. For example, in the U.S. much or all of manual recording is done onto paper. A non-exhaustive list of examples in which military personnel record information onto paper, most often in handwritten form, includes: patrol coordination, patrol order, attack order, defense order, order annex, warning order, route card, fire plan sketch, range card, call for fire, close air support, close in fire support, communications and reporting, general information, guidelines for operation, and reconnaissance sketch/report. However, in military and security applications, writing on paper may be necessary in adverse conditions that can cause the information that was recorded to be lost or corrupted.
Some writing surfaces have been developed as alternatives to paper, including certain relatively unwieldy products that are disadvantageously thick, an example being PolyDura™, manufactured by J. L. Darling Corp. Another is Write-in-the-rain™ paper sold by J. L. Darling Corp (Washington), which is a paper that does not degrade in water. The Write-in-the-rain™ paper is a throwaway, one-time-use product, which tends to wick, and, once wetted and allowed to dry, will not return to its original manufactured state.
Just as conventional paper and writing surfaces are ill-suited to be utilized in various settings or weather conditions, the existing bindings and cases that hold them also lack the durability, resiliency, or adjustability to be used in harsh or punishing conditions. Traditional notebooks, which use metallic clasps that are spring loaded, have moveable parts that can rust and fail when subjected to wet conditions. Also, traditional metallic clasps can bend and deform when only a slight amount of weight is placed on top of the binding. Conventional notebooks that use metallic clasps that are spring loaded also are impractical in settings where silence is necessary, since such clasps can emit a loud snapping noise when they are closed. Moreover, a binding that can be deformed by pressure or corroded by weather is impractical and incompatible for outdoor use, or in situations where the book or case with the binding may be sat upon or placed under heavy equipment.
Attempts have been made to expand the conditions in which books can be used to include wet surroundings, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,837,521 (Legrand). However, these attempts do not succeed in providing a book that can be used in harsh or punishing condition, let alone a writing kit. The pages described by Legrand are made of foam and are designed for a book meant to be safe for children, not a book or writing kit designed to be used in environments and conditions that are severe. Pages, bindings and books, such as those described in Legrand, would rip or deteriorate quickly if subjected to a harsh environment or punishing treatment. The pages of the book are not capable of providing a writing surface that can be written on with ink that is resistant to removal in wet conditions, yet removable with a solvent. Neither can the binding in Legrand, and books of that style, be adjusted to adapt to a change in the number of pages in the book. The number of pages in such books is fixed and unalterable.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,128 (Guntz) discloses a binder for looseleaf pages that can be adjusted to hold a range of pages. Guntz, and similar adjustable binding types (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 1,479,607 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,716,187), offer binders that fail to provide an article that is suited for a severe environment or setting, or that can withstand punishing treatment. Existing adjustable binders have bindings that are prone to failure if they are subjected to challenging environments or conditions since they have securing means that are fragile. Another shortfall of these previous binders is that they fail to teach an adjustable binding combined with a writing kit that provides pages with sheets that are durable and can be re-used multiple times.
Military units need a writing kit to record and document information to effectively fulfill their missions and responsibilities, regardless of the harshness of the weather or surroundings. Bird watchers, environmentalists, campers, hikers, fisherman, outdoor enthusiasts, coaches or any other person that keeps notes in the outdoors also need a writing kit that can withstand punishing weather and treatment without having the information that was recorded corrupted or lost. Conventional or existing binders and writing kits fail to provide a durable, resilient option that still enables the accurate and up-to-date record keeping that is necessary in many fields. Existing writing kits are either missing one or more of the following factors: portability, a durable and protective case, an adjustable and resilient binding that can operate quietly, resilient writing sheets, or writing sheets that can capture writing in semi-permanent ink and be used over and over.
What is needed, then, is a writing kit containing pages resistant to failure in many climates and environmental conditions that can be written upon in ink that is semi-permanent and removable. Furthermore, the writing kit should have a binding and case that is resistant to wear and deformation in many weather and environmental conditions that operates quietly, and is fully adjustable to accommodate one to a plurality of pages.